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Originally Posted by chillrob
Even if the profit you make in your good button hands would outweigh the amount you lose on your bad ones, I don't see how that implies that putting in money with the bad ones is a good idea. You will still make that money even without the kill when you voluntarily play the good hands. With the kill the amount you make on the good hands will be increased, but that doesn't prove it will be enough to more than cancel out the amount you lose on the bad hands.
I don't claim to have "proven" anything. I'm suggesting it's not unreasonable to remain profitable. And there are other things that being the kill can do. For example, some players tighten up when there's a kill. This means that your blind is more protected than usual. Other players just play badly when there's a kill. That's more profit.
My bottom line is this: I don't think that it's reasonable to make significant adjustments for the kill button. I don't think there's enough reasonable information to believe strongly that it's much better or much worse to have it. I'll just play my normal game and if the kill happens then it happens. It's maybe once an hour at best that I'm going to win two pots in a row? So it's just not a significant issue.
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Some places allow a button straddle. I know there are reasonable players who believe that it is profitable, but I can't imagine that it is always profitable, for all players. Do you think it would be?
Notice the clause. This tells me everything I need to know about your position. I'm making no blanket generalizations to all players. Since most players are losers, it would be best for them to not play at all.
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If your regular game allowed button straddles, would you always post one?
I might. It depends on how the game is playing.
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I certainly wouldn't, but I am open to the idea that it would be profitable to do so.
The bolded is the only concession I'm looking for.
As the game gets more short-handed, I think the advantage to a button straddle goes up. In fact, I seem to recall that there was significant discussion about 3-handed games with a straddle being strongly favorable to the button. (This is a memory of a discussion from years ago, so it could be something that's not a thing in reality.)